Misc. Ramblings

SWMBO and I went on a short vacation last week. From Monday through Friday morning we were at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Ali'i Tower. Ali'i Tower, one of several hotels on the property, is on the beach facing Diamond Head. The Tower features it's own pool/sun deck, whirlpool, and business center. Each room includes a direct telephone line and dedicated fax line. The fax line is hooked up to an HP all-in-one fax/scanner/printer. Unfortunately, Internet access is either through your laptop hooked into the phone line or via their TV. Not exactly business friendly but at least there are ports on the side of the two phones in the bedroom (the phone in the bathroom does not have a port).

Diamond Head, or Leahi as it is known in Hawai'ian, can barely be seen in the distance. During the building boom of the 1960s to 70s, the state bird was (facetiously) the construction crane - being that so many hotels were built to accommodate the increased number of visitors with the coming of cheaper jet aircraft service. Fortunately, there is still some open areas - including this park in front of the Hale Koa Hotel (for the military) next door to the Hilton. Also nice is the wide white-sand beach fronting this part of the village. This is in contrast to those hotels in the heart of Waikiki which are almost right up to the water's edge - leaving precious little beach to walk on.

This is another shot of the park and gives a better sense of depth. With hotels being built so close to each other it is rare in Waikiki to have open space. It is one of the reasons we chose this hotel over some of the more luxurious ones. The park itself has shaded picnic benches and barbecues so anyone can spend a nice day at the beach without being run over by thousands of pink skinned visitors. Speaking of the beach, we were unfortunately there during the time of the month in which the box jelly fish come in (see one account of what happens each month here). So we were unable/unwilling to set foot in the water, at least, not until later in the week when the warning signs were taken down. By that time, we were at our next hotel, but I will save that for tomorrow's post.

One of the things we did while at the Hilton was take a submarine ride. The picture on the left is of the good ship "Discovery" as it docked in front of our hotel (as seen from our room on the 13th floor). The Discovery takes you out about a mile off Waikiki to one of three Atlantis submarines. The larger sub holds 64 and the smaller two, one of which we were on, holds 48. The Discovery pulls up next to the subs and transfers the passengers over in the open ocean. Needless to say, if there are big waves or high winds, this is not a Good Thing. Even on the day we went, with waves in the one to four foot range, it is not something you want to do unless you've taken sea sickness pills and you are sure of foot. In either case, once on board and the sub and has reached at least 20-feet below the surface things settle down nicely (at one point you reach about 120-ft. down).

This is looking forward, towards the captain, and out the huge 4-inch thick plexi-glass dome. There are ports along the side of the sub for each passenger to look out but since I was sitting directly behind the captain I spent as much time looking forward as to the side. Due to the last hurricane that came near the islands (about 10 years ago), the near-shore bottom was pretty much scraped clean of marine growth/coral. As a result, Atlantis spent a fair amount of time and money creating artificial reefs so as to attract fish and coral growth.

The first of the reefs is called "Pyramids" because of the shape of the concrete blocks. This is a Japanese design that creates a series of floors and ceilings that the smaller fish can hide in. Hiding is something smaller fish need to do to keep from getting eaten by larger predatory fish. Hence, if the bottom is clean of hiding spaces, you won't find many fish hanging around. Conversely, creating a multitude of spaces for small fish will result in fish congregating there. In addition, coral and other marine organisms will soon build their homes, thus creating even more places for small fish. And where there are small fish, the larger fish are soon to come. And where there are sea life to look at, people will follow.

This next artificial reef is a section of an airplane. Pictured is part of the fuselage but the entire plane was sunk. Over time, and with strong currents and storms, the plane has broken apart and is scattered in several places. The plane was from an inter-island airline that went bankrupt. Atlantis bought the plane, and after removing toxic materials, sank the plane to create a home for fish. The plane hasn't been underwater for that long so you don't see much marine growth, however, the fish do seem to like it.

This third reef is an old fishing boat that was no longer being used. As with the plane, it needed to be cleansed of all hazardous materials, including its fuel oil and reportedly took much time and effort to do so. The object in the center is a large turtle that has made the ship its temporary home. Be aware that the Hawai'ian green sea turtle is a protected species under state and federal law. Unfortunately, this has not stopped people from hunting these creatures almost to extinction. You can also see the beginning of coral heads, which is an indication that the ship has been there for at least 10 years.

I thought this was an interesting shot of a couple of dragon boats tied up along side the dock. We saw tourists going out in them but decided we would rather have an engine push us along rather than have to paddle this heavy thing! For those interested, you can follow the link above to the history of dragon boat racing and how it has become an international festival. As with many ancient rites, it is based on superstition but has become secularized into what it is today. In any case, the boats are colorful and are something to see when they are moving along at a fast clip. We've seen the races at Ala Moana park in which a rider sits on the head of the dragon and reaches for the flag at the finish line. Even if you cross the finish line first, you must still have the flag grasped in your hands. So it is possible for a slower boat to win if the flag-person is not good with their hands.

From dragons to birds. In this case, some flamingoes and a lone black swan. Long-time readers of this column will remember my run-in with a black swan last year on Maui. It seems the swans are rather territorial and will charge towards you if they think you are encroaching on their turf (or water, as the case may be). However, this particular one seemed tamer and would let people touch it. Being that as it may, the village grounds had water fowl of various kinds populating the many artificial lagoons and rivers. But, they are not pets. Hence, do not think you can treat them as such unless you want to be called "Lefty."

Most people think of penguins in cold climates. But from what I understand, there are more warm weather species than cold. I don't know the particular species these are from but they have a little habitat on the grounds of the village and draw quite a crowd during the twice-daily feeding times (8:00am and 3:00pm). It is during these times that the penguins are most active so if you want to see them doing something other than sleeping, those two times are when you want to be there. It is kind of cute how then line up during feeding and wait their turns to get their daily fish. I didn't have my camera with me but they all line up and are fed one-by-one. Although, there was one penguin that got tired of waiting and cut in to the front of the line. But as far as I could see, there was no retaliation by any of the others waiting. [G]

I'm out of time and this will have to be posted later than normal because I have to get to work. Tomorrow I will have a short post on the hotel we went to on Friday.

Aloha!